Touch Me @ Traverse Theatre
As the audience files into a packed-out auditorium in the Traverse Theatre, an abandoned duvet lies forlornly in the centre of the stage. Once everyone has taken their places and the lights are dimmed, the duvet moves eerily in the near-pitch blackness, finally falling backwards to reveal a suitcase beneath. From this apparently banal piece of luggage unfurls tonight’s performer, Sabine Molenaar, in an entrance which sets the tone for the rest of her show.
Staged by award-winning Belgian/Dutch dance company Sandman, Touch Me is an intense and atmospheric study of human (and here, specifically female) intimacy. Running through as many costume changes as emotions, Molenaar holds our hand as we variously face down the tenderness, lust, repulsion and terror that the human experience involves.
The suggestive title, as well as the nakedness mentioned in the show’s blurb, might have fooled some attendees into expecting an hour filled with more open salaciousness. A full fishnet bodysuit and some incredibly erotic dancing do make their appearances, but on the whole, the show is more characterised by disorientation and disillusionment than arousal or sexual stimulation.
Two scenes in particular – both of which are conducted “off-stage” (behind a semi-transparent duvet) stand out as particularly effective in jarring the audience into an emotional response. The first takes the form of mere shock factor, as Molenaar abruptly shrieks into the microphone, breaking the building tension in spectacular style, while the second is a more insidious kind of dread as she writhes in silhouette to a war-like backbeat and otherworldly growl, raising the suggestion of an unknown, alien threat with carnivorous tendencies.
Indeed, throughout the performance, Molenaar is continually morphing between Mia Wallace-like vixen, electrified shock therapy patient and robotic assassin. Throughout it all, her movement, poise and sheer flexibility are outstanding, with her contortions complemented by the pulse of the music and the glare of intermittent strobe lighting.
While her execution is flawless, the lack of a coherent narrative does compromise the quality of the piece as a whole. It’s certainly a journey into the human psyche, but the lack of signposts along the way make for an exhaustingly disorientating experience – which is perhaps the point. Nevertheless, the show would certainly have benefited from a stronger message and greater unity in its themes, turning it into an hour-long captivating – but exasperating – cavort around the stage.
Part of Manipulate festival 2017